Affiliate marketing is a well-performing marketing strategy that allows companies (especially app and game developers) to partner with individuals like YouTubers or social media influencers to promote their products and services (Risquet, 2020). Affiliates are paid a commission for each sale or promotion generated through their referral link or code or may be paid up-front. 

According to Risquet, this can be used to:

• Boost sales: Affiliates usually have a large and loyal audience that even if they know it is promoted, they would be likely to help out their favorite creator. Companies can increase their reach and attract more potential customers by choosing affiliates sharing similar content to their products.
• Inexpensive marketing: Affiliate marketing can be a cost-effective marketing strategy for companies as they only pay affiliates for actual sales and promotions, not advertising space or impressions.  
• Increase website traffic: Affiliates can drive more traffic to a company's website, increasing the likelihood of conversions and sales. 
•  Expanding market reach: By partnering with partners in different regions and languages, businesses can expand their market reach and attract customers from new markets.  

Example of Affiliate Marketing:

Udemy: Udemy is a popular website providing online courses. Affiliates can earn commissions by promoting Udemy as a website to gain knowledge or as a specific course on their website. 

I also want to talk about music/record labels, which I was not sure if they can be included here.

There are thousands of music/record labels. This type of marketing seems to be a little reversed because that is the company that is an affiliate and the creators are those who are being promoted. The music creators are on a contract that disallows them to be in any other music/record label. When artist is signed to a label, they get money called "advance" to make music (Connection, 2022). When the music is released, the label keeps all the money until they have recouped their expenses. They also can offer to be on stage at a music festival. Example of music/record label can be: Disciple or NoCopyrightSounds

Bibliography:

Connection, R. (2022) How do record labels turn a profit?, Recording Connection. Available at: https://recordingconnection.com/reference-library/how-do-record-labels-turn-a-pr... (Accessed: March 15, 2023). 

Risquet, S. (2020) What is affiliate marketing and its benefits, Engaio Digital. Available at: https://engaiodigital.com/affiliate-marketing/ (Accessed: March 15, 2023).